Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government is planning to increase its testing capacity to 30,000 a day by next week.
The capacity of RT-PCR tests is likely to go up to 10,000 a day with seven more laboratories coming up this week and the rest 20,000 would be conducted through the rapid antigen test kits, a report published in TNIE said.
A total of 54 testing laboratories are currently operational in 30 districts of Odisha.
By August 10, the state had managed to ramp up the testing to 19,083 while it was 16,093 on August 9 and 17,444 on August 8. Odisha is much behind Assam and Bihar, where around 58,000 and 60,000 tests are being conducted daily. Even West Bengal has taken up its tests to around 25,000.
Additional Chief Secretary of Health and Family Welfare Department PK Mohapatra told TNIE that the state plans to achieve the daily test target of 30,000 to 35,000 and has procured 5.25 lakh antigen tests kits for the purpose. “Orders for another 13 lakh kits have already been placed. The consignment is expected to reach in a week,” he added.
He further said that districts have been asked to conduct the rapid tests at the CHC and PHC level and ensure that those testing negative on antigen kits undergo RT-PCR tests.
On July 24, the Union government had advised nine states, including Odisha, to urgently ramp up COVID-19 testing, strictly implement containment plan, augment health infrastructure and ensure effective clinical management.
To increase the number of COVID-19 testing in Odisha, the state government on August 2 issued guidelines for all private hospitals, nursing homes and laboratories, intending to start testing by Rapid Antigen and RT PCR method.
Also Read: SOP Issued For Private Hospitals, Labs & Nursing Homes To Conduct COVID-19 Tests
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